Teenagers & Rituals
by NarcaissusFlower
Summary: When Hamato Yoshi purchased four baby turtles from a pet store, he never intended that moments later he would have to become a father to them. As they grow up, he realizes that he may have received more than he bargained for, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
1. Chapter 1: As Quiet As The Evening

Author's Note: To Whomever Stumbled Upon this Story

I've always wanted to write and publish my own works where people can see them and possibly enjoy them. I'm not going to lie and say I'm the greatest writer ever. To be honest, I still think that my writing skills could use some work. That being said, I hope whoever decides to read this story takes that into consideration. I would feel very honored to have someone critique my work, cause there are bound to be some grammatical errors contained in my stories. I also have a tendency to make my stories Non-Chronological, meaning that the order of events might skip around from time to time. However, this is my first time publishing one of my works to this archive and hope you (The Reader) enjoy what I have begun to create. P.S. If you are one of those people who seriously don't like genderbent characters in any form, this story probably isn't for you. You might as well turn back now. You have been warned...

Chapter 1: As quiet as the evening

It was silent throughout the lair, except for the occasional grunt or clanging of metal as an obstacle blocked it. It was currently 6:47AM and most people would still be sleeping, snuggled up under the warmth of their blanket, lazily snoring away only to be interrupted an hour later by an alarm. But this was a daily routine for the inhabitants of the lair. Waking up at 5 in the morning, eating some breakfast, then reporting to the dojo for their morning training. The members of this lair, or home as they called it, were not normal people. They might seem like it at first, for their humanistic nature might fool ones eyes at first glance. But if one would take a closer look, they would notice that these creatures looked as if they had stepped out of the pages of a book that only someone with a great amount of imagination could conjure. These creatures were friendly, though, at least when they weren't threatened. There were 4 children and a father, and they were an abnormal family, broken and lost, but still happy. However, the normal people in the city of New York could never understand them, at least that is what their father had told them. "People are driven by fear, my children, which is why we could never go up to the surface amongst them. Humans would not understand us, for their judgment becomes clouded and instinct driven when encountering something that is different from themselves." He would often preach this, hoping one day that it would sink into their tiny and fragile minds. After all, they were just children, and they couldn't understand everything that they were told. They just don't think that way.

The father of these children could never be a proper fatherly figure to them, for they were not his real children, but he tried anyway. The accident had taken so much from him, but had gave him something back in return. He lost his family, his humanity, his name, but he was given a chance to live a second life. While he was mutated into a rat, the 4 baby turtles that he had bought had mutated right along with him. However, they were infants who needed the guidance of a parental figure. Yoshi, the rat's old name, couldn't leave them to fend for themselves, so he scoped them up and took them with him underground.

So many years had passed since the incident, and while the turtles might not be able to recall what exactly happened back then, Yoshi would never be able to forget it. The infants looked about the size of 2 month old human babies, just a little younger than his lost daughter Miwa was, so he settled on that as their age. He didn't name them right away. How could he when there was so much for him to process at the moment for him to even think straight? The soft sound of crying snapped him to of his thoughts though. He looked over at the small infants and saw that the smallest one, who had little freckles dotted across it's face and the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen, had begun to cry. He watched, his interest piqued as another one had moved closer to it, patting its tiny hand across the smaller one's face, trying to console it. The smaller stopped crying and looked up at the bigger one's face. While still a little agitated, It smiled and laid it's head down in the others lap. The rat soon realized that they all couldn't survive very long without a proper shelter, so he got up and left them for a while, making sure they were safe first, and went to look for something that would help them for the moment. During his exploration, he stumbled upon a large, abandoned train like station in the sewers. He decided that this would have to do for the moment and went beck to his scavenge. He found a worn out blanket with dull, fading colors. He also found a box that was in good enough condition to be used as a makeshift carrier for the infants. There wasn't much else down there that could actually be used, so he decided to leave. Something had caught his eye, however, as he was about to leave. He walked over to the object, identifying it as a book, and picked it up. He read what was left of the cover, which gave him enough knowledge for him to know that it was a book on renaissance names. It would give him something to do he guessed. He made his way back to the babies, seeing as they were still sleeping, he picked them up and placed them in the box, putting the blanket on them hoping it would give them some warmth. Satisfied, he sat down and opened the book. While he was flipping through, a small hand had made its way onto his lap. He looked over at it, it's large dark blue eyes looking widely at him. It was staring at the book in his hands, as if it was waiting for him to let it see what he was doing. He smiled softly, picking it up, careful not to wake the others up, and placed it on his lap. The small child smiled, never taking its eyes off of Yoshi. It reminded him of Miwa, but he shook his head slightly to clear away the thought. These were his children now. They needed him.

"You need a name don't you, Akachan." he chuckled to himself softly.

His memory was unsure about what the store cashier had told him when he purchased the little turtles. He hoped they would help him get his mind off of his family, who had perished tragically in a fire, and help him start a new life. He couldn't seem to remember if they were all male, female, or both. He was certain that he had purchased some male turtles, but it must have just slipped his mind. Blue eyes, however, looked more feminine than masculine, so he decided that it must have been a female. He could check, but unfortunately he was unsure where to even start.

His eyes grazed over the list of Italian names until the small hand stopped him on a page. The name read Leonarda. Hmm…the female alternative to Leonardo, who's name means " _Lion-bold."_ The small girl was protective of her other siblings, almost like an older sister. He figured this one must be the oldest.

"You like that name huh." he said to the small child, and received a small grunt as a reply.

"That will be your name then, my little Leonarda" He noticed three other heads had popped up out of the box at this point, so he scooped them up into his lap too. They squirmed slightly and he looked at the one with venomous green eyes. He was positive that this one was a male, judging by how opposite it's appearance was from Leonarda. He had a small, lightning shaped crack on the front of his plastron, probably due to the mutation. He had a little bit of a feisty attitude, constantly hitting whatever was in his range. But he was passionate, too, caring for his siblings when they cried. He named this one Raphael, whose name means " _God has Healed_." The one with big, brown eyes like his own was inquisitive, and like Raphael, was also a boy. In the few days of being alone with them in the sewer he has found himself studying the small turtles, and noticed that the brown eyed one was more attentive to it's surroundings. He figured that this one would enjoy learning about new things. The turtle bent his head slightly and flipped to a random page. The name on the page had read Donatello, the name meaning " _gift."_ Ironically, the name seemed to fit the gap-toothed child, for his mind was indeed a gift, even if he was so young. He settled on this as the child's name. Finally, he looked at the last one. It was smaller than it's other siblings. He figured that it must be the youngest because of how pampered it is with the others. The child was adorned with a large smile and light freckles across it's cheeks. It was strikingly similar to Leonarda, only difference being color and the freckles. Both had blue eyes and seemed to spend more time with each other. He assumed this one was female too, but that, he guessed, was only an assumption. He flipped back over to the female names, and found one that particularly stood out to him. It was long, and certainly would confuse the child a bit; it was almost perfect for her angelic appearance. He named her Michelangela, which like Leonarda, is the alternative for Michelangelo. The name meaning, _"Who is like God an angel."_ Seems fitting enough. With all the children named and nothing else super important on his mind, he allowed himself to drift of to sleep with the small turtles beside him.


	2. Chapter 2: The Breakfast that Took 3 Hrs

Authors Note:

Sorry for not updating in a while. I've been busy with family over the weekend and with Thanksgiving I kinda didn't have time to sit down and write. Hopefully if my teachers decide to have pity on me I will be able to update more frequently. Sorry this chapter wasn't very great, I've been busy like I said. Hopefully, though, I will be able to build a story later, so think of this as like a filler almost. Anyway, I hope you had a great day and liked the monstrosity that I have created. Peace out guys.

-Narcaissus

Chapter 2: The Breakfast that Took Three Hours

To think all this happened 13 years ago boggled the rat's mind. They have grown so much in the past years, each developing their own personal habits and traits. Leonarda became devoted to Ninjitsu ever since he had shown them the art form. She was also cool and collected, rarely ever impatient with her younger siblings, except maybe Raphael. Raphael became obsessed with working out and with a pet turtle that he had found in the sewers a few years ago. He had an attitude and a temper, but he was also passionate at times and really cared for his other siblings. Donatello was inventive, always creating things that would be useful for his family or even for himself. He craved knowledge and was way more advanced academically than his brother and sisters. Then there was Michelangela. She wasn't smart like Donatello or strong like Raphael, or even organized like Leonarda, but she was creative in her own way. She picks up new kata's and moves almost instantly, and her agility and flexibility is unmatched to her siblings. She's also has a knack for sketching and painting, living up to her name.

How did he let the time go by so quickly? It seemed like only yesterday that they were small and still able to be picked up and carried. He just had to except that they were getting older, and with that they were going to need to be taught a few things about being older. However, now was not the time. It was a calm Saturday morning anyway. He decided to spoil their fun on Monday. The wise rat chuckled softly to himself and shook his head.

There was peace in the large living room of the lair in which they lived in. The television was on, playing whatever random show decided to come on. Yes, quite peaceful. The same could not be said for the kitchen, however, as there was loud clanging of pans and other miscellaneous object that found their way onto the floor. arguing ensued, only adding to the mixture of noises. They resonated throughout the lair, surprisingly not disturbing their father from his meditation session. Inside the chaotic kitchen, three siblings scrammed to perfect their gift to their sensei. They wanted to surprise him by making him breakfast, because they rarely do, but unfortunately cooking was not their forte.

"Donnie, watch the eggs in the pan for a sec!" Lea said frantically as she was multi-tasking scrambling eggs and making pancake batter, a cookbook in front of her.

"Sure, but hurry up, I have bread in the toaster." Donnie replied, currently focusing on his new task.

"For crying out loud, how hard is it to cook bacon?!" Raph complained as he was burning the bacon in front of him.

This continued on until they had accidentally started a fire with the toaster. They decided that they should stop trying to cook food since it was painfully obvious that they can't. The sound of a smoke alarm brought Mikie out of her room and down to where her sister and brothers were, mouth agape as she witnessed the destruction of her domain.

"Dudes, what DID YOU DO?! THIS IS MY HOOMEEE!" She dramatically stated, collapsing on her knees and pretended to cry.

"We, um, tried to make breakfast?" Donnie nervously stated as his eyes shifted away, but then landed on her again. "But that's why we have an amazing little sister who CAN make us breakfast every morning. So could you use your magical powers of little sister-ness to make a complete breakfast for sensei?" he rushed his sentences out and Raph, Lea, and himself smiled and fled the kitchen, leaving Mikie to deal with the charred mess of what was left.

"Merry Christmas to me." She rolled her eyes and got started on cleaning before their father came out and suspected the ruin being her doing.

After about an hour, Mikie called her siblings back into the kitchen and demonstrated how to cook breakfast properly, not letting them get away with leaving her to do all the work again. She started by pulling out a book on pancake recipes and flipped to one of her personal favorite pages. Chunky Monkey Pancakes. Sure they take a little longer to make, but they taste wonderful in her opinion. Who doesn't like chocolate and bananas in a pancake? She began pulling out baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, bananas of course, eggs, butter, her hidden bag of semi-sweet chocolate (she will have to find a new hiding spot later), and milk.

She had made these before in the past for practice and found it funny when her siblings looked at all the ingredients with an overwhelming awe.

"It's really not that much stuff, dudes. There are WAY more complicated recipes in here." she said pointing to her book.

"Where did you even get this stuff? We've never left the sewers." Raph stated skeptically.

"I have my sources." She giggled in reply. "Anyway stop asking questions. Do you want to have these done before splinter comes out?" She said teasingly.

And so she started showing them how to mix the batter together and how much to pour into the pan, watching them closely so that they wouldn't ruin this batch of pancakes. When they were done being cooked, and after she checked to make sure they were FULLY cooked, she helped them put the fluffy pancakes onto plates. She then shooed them out as she made her special chocolate syrup with the bag that she hides from them. She got some powdered sugar and sprinkled it on top of the pancakes, putting some diced bananas and syrup over it. She put the plates on the island like table that they have, and got some juice out and put it on the table. She straightened everything out and called her siblings into the room to marvel at the sight. She then told Lea to go get Sensei. She shifted nervously, then left the room and headed to the dojo. She quietly opened the screen and walked in. She sat down in front of her father, not wanting to disturb him rudely. She waited for him to acknowledge her presence, and then told him that they had made a special breakfast for him. This took Splinter aback, for it was usually his youngest that made them all breakfast. He had no doubt that Michelangela had a big role in this, but it was nice to see them all getting along for once. He followed his eldest out into the kitchen and saw the array of pancakes that littered the table. They weren't regular pancakes either, so some thought must have gone into making them. He looked down at his children, who beamed as they waiting for his response. He wasn't expecting this from them at all, but he was glad. He was proud of how much they have grown into (Mostly) responsible people and sat down with them to enjoy the breakfast that took three hours.


End file.
